My Top 5 Irish Books

As an author from Ireland, I, of course, have my top-5 list of Irish books.

I enjoy discussing books and all things literary. I would love to hear your thoughts about any or all of these books. Please also share this list, and feel free to include your own recommendations!

1. Ulysses

By James Joyce

Commonly thought of as the finest Irish book ever written. Not an easy read, but no list of Irish books is complete without its inclusion. It has also given rise to a slew of Irish bars worldwide, with such names as; “The James Joyce” and “Tim Finnegan’s.”

2. Trinity

By Leon Uris

A book about Ireland, written by an American. It was one of the first novels about the Troubles, which I read during the 70’s. Some call it dated, but as a young teenager living alongside the Donegal/Derry border, I found it to be familiar and powerful.

3. Angela’s Ashes

By Frank McCourt

One of the most well known and read Irish books of the past 30 years. McCourt’s book was so successful in fact, that he has been attributed with creating the modern day genre; “Mis. Lit.” Ironically, the author faced the strongest criticism back home in Limerick, where the locals felt humiliated that the world would now see the level of poverty which existed.

4. Brooklyn

By Colm Tobin

Tobin is a master storyteller. Even for those of us who grew up many decades after the era in which the story is set, we are familiar with the local shop being the business center of a street or village. This story of Irish emigration (continuing to be resuscitated by times of economic strife), is still alive in the 21st century. Brooklyn was recently made into a feature length film and drew great acclaim and nominations.

5. Are You Somebody?

By Nuala O’Faolain

“I’m not anybody in terms of the world, but then, who decides what a somebody is? How is a somebody made?” asks Irish Times columnist O’Faolain. The answer can be found in her moving and painfully honest memoir. When Nuala O’Faolain bared her soul to the Irish public, it not only drew back the curtains on Irish sexuality, it blew them off in a “Wizzard of Oz”, tornado style. One can deeply sense the author’s vulnerability at the turn of every page of her “no holds barred” life’s story.

4 Comments

Well … I tried Ulysses … at least half a dozen times. Then I bought the CDs and listened to it. Still none the wiser. It was when I heard Joyce used sit under a bridge in Paris listening to the sound of droplets plopping in order to replicate the music that I thought: Ah, here! It’s beyond my ken.

Delighted to see Tóibín on your list.

I’d forgotten all about Nuala Ó’s work. She lectured in UCD when I was there. I enjoyed this book but not her other works.

Limerick, I think, would prefer to be identified as the home of Angela’s Ashes than Stab City!

You’re dead right, Colette – Joyce is a rare one. I have spent far more hours in Joycean themed Irish pubs around the globe, than I have trying to decipher Ulysses! It is a difficult, if not impossible, task to come up with a definitive “top 5” when the pickings are so rich. Doyle’s; “Paddy Clarke, ha ha ha is another favourite, as is everything written by Brendan Behan. I’ll be rightly banjaxed if I am to chose my top 5 Irish poems, or poets for that matter!